Captain Olivia Shepard
by bodzaital
Summary: After the famous Commander Shepard gets under house arrest, Hackett assigns Captain Olivia Shepard as the commander of the Normandy. Will she be able to fulfill that role? Does not follows ME storyline.
1. Episode 1: Cpt Shepard

**Episode 1: Cpt. Shepard (20th February, 2186 - 23rd February, 2186)**

* * *

**20th February, 2186 - Vancouver, Earth**

Commander John Shepard is in house arrest for killing three hundred thousand batarians to delay the inevitable reaper war. They keep him in an Alliance facility in the heart of Vancouver.

"I told you, I destroyed the mass relay because I needed to stop the reapers."

"Yes, the Bahak system incident. You are lucky we aren't thrown you into the batarians' arms. They would go to war if they realize you did it. Your Illusive Man gave the order to kill those batarians?"

"I won't waste my breath, Vega. You heard what I said."

Lieutenant James Vega just stood there, and called the guards.

"This man needs medical attention. His mind is unstable, lock him down."

* * *

**21st February, 2186 - Zakera Ward, Citadel**

"You're not serious! This?" Tali'Zorah said, while sitting on a chair in a shop.

"Why? I love purple clothes. And this armor set is just twenty-five thousand credits. It's even on fifty percent discount!"

"What'll John say about you spending all his money?"

"Oh, he doesn't care about me. Only you, since you two grew close during that suicide mission. And I earned a new armor set. The old one was really tight and heavy. I was exhausted after just one biotic charge."

The set Olivia chose didn't have a helmet. And since they were quite rich after her brother's Cerberus contacts, they could buy anything they wanted. Captain Olivia Shepard, John's sister wasn't like his brother. She didn't have an alien crew, and didn't command the best frigate in the fleet. After his brother's detention however, Alliance brass decided to have Olivia be the Normandy's captain after the retrofit. Until then, they lived on the Citadel.

Almost all non-human crewmembers left the Normandy, with the exception of Garrus Vakarian and Tali'Zorah. They knew Olivia since 2183, when John got the Normandy from Admiral Anderson.

John was always jealous about her sister being a captain, until Anderson stepped aside three years ago, giving him the Normandy. Since then, almost all talking between the two Shepard were about 'who's the best.' And now, Olivia is winning.

"Ha!" Olivia exclaimed, startling Tali.

"What?" Tali said, while almost jumping.

"I found a purple visor! This will match the armor set!"

"Can I help you?" the store clerk asked, when the two approached her.

"Yes, I'd like to buy the N7 armor set in purple color, with some small modifications: the chest plate to change to a model from Serrice Council, the shoulder plate to change to Ariake tech model, and a Kuwashii visor also from Ariake tech. Oh and a Savant omni-tool for my friend."

"Certainly, that'll be thirty-eight thousand credits."

"You needn't, Shepard. My omni-tool works just well."

"Nonsense, even I have two omni-tools: one for work and one where I store my games and music."

"Oh, well… Thank you."

* * *

**22nd February, 2186 - The bridge, SSV Normandy SR2**

When Joker heard about John's detention, he feared someone will step up, who he doesn't like. He heard that the new captain will arrive 1300 today. 'This ship will always be Shepard's.' He was pleasantly surprised, when the airlock opened, and Olivia marched in in her N7 hoodie.

"Olivia? What are you doing here?" Joker asked while turning his chair 180. He knew Olivia since they were children.

"You know, since John is being kept in Earth, I thought, steal this ship from him."

"You need to go; the new captain will be here any minute. I have a bad feeling about him."

"Last time I checked, I'm still a female," said Olivia sarcastically.

"Why are you saying tha– No, don't tell me…"

"Yeah, I'm the new captain," Olivia said. Joker got up from his chair, and went ahead to hug Olivia, "How can you walk? Didn't you have that brittle bone disease?"

"Yeah, but thanks to Cerberus, I can walk again."

"I heard what they did to John." They talked about her brother's past, the suicide mission, about saving everybody. Joker told her about John's relationship with Tali. "I heard that, Tali seem to be a nice person. I always liked the quarians."

"I was certain that someone like Mikhailovich would come. Tell me, do you think the reapers are a real threat?" Joker asked nervously.

"I don't have that much insight. I only heard that he became a spectre, and took down Saren. After the destruction of the SR1, we didn't really speak."

"Sorry to interrupt, but I heard you'll going to be the commander of the ship. I'm Specialist Samantha Traynor, handling incoming messages. Can I give you a tour of the ship?" Traynor said, with British accent.

"Of course, but first, can you tell me where the captain's cabin is?"

"This way, captain."

Shepard followed Traynor to the elevator, and went up to deck one.

"I'm sure you have a lot of work, so I'll be quick," Traynor said, once the elevator stopped. They stepped out to the small antechamber, and continued, "This is your cabin, where you can change your armor, read emails and monitor the crew," said Traynor, while holding a PDA in her hands. "On deck two, you can find the Combat Information Center, the bridge, and the war room where you can access various resources. There is even a quantum entanglement communicator."

"I've always wondered how a QEC works." Shepard asked.

"Well, when two quantum entangled particle is separated, changes to one will affect the other one, no matter the distance. Anyway, I don't want to bore you with tech. On deck three, you can find the executive officer's office, the med bay, crew quarters, lounge, and main battery. Be prepared, Garrus is usually there, calibrating the main gun. Last, but not least, there is a bathroom for the crew. Needless to say, your cabin is equipped with a better one."

"Why do you say that?"

"Well, let's just say, the warm water on the ship is as scarce as habitable planets in the galactic core."

"Well, there is the collector base…" Shepard stated.

"That's a synonym to your bathroom."

"Who is the executive officer on this ship?"

"Well, until it was under Cerberus, it was Miranda Lawson. Now, it's Lieutenant Commander Ashley Williams."

"Thanks."

"On deck four, you can find engineering. Engineer Adams is currently works there. On deck five, there is the armory, and the UT-47A Kodiak shuttle. I think you'll want to check in with Lieutenant Cortez, about supply chains.

And that's it. I don't know what your brother told you about this ship, but we retrofitted it quite bit."

"Thanks, Traynor."

"Aaaand I was only assigned to the Normandy for the retrofit, although I hoped I could stay."

"I would prefer that she remain, she was very effective during installations, and more systems require further testing," EDI stated.

"Since when does a VI make requests?" Traynor curiously asked.

"EDI isn't a VI. She's fully self-aware."

"I knew it, I knew Joker was lying."

"Welcome aboard, Traynor," Olivia said, while extending her right arm. Traynor shook her hand.

"I think you have works to do, I won't waste your time. You can talk to me in the CIC if you want."

**23rd February, 2186 - Deck Five, SSV Normandy SR2**

"Captain Shepard, Procurement Specialist Lieutenant Steve Cortez," said Cortez, while saluting. "I also maintain the armory and drive the shuttle for missions."

"That's a lot of work. You sure you can handle it?"

"It is fine, captain. Do you want to check the weapons?"

"Of course. I didn't have time to do that."

"Well, as you can see, we retrofitted most of the heavy weapons your brother researched. There is the M-920 Cain. You can now fire a nuke if the counter hit 50% instead of 100% but at a 25% lowered damage."

"Wait, you said, this weapon fires a nuclear projectile? Isn't that a little dangerous? I still remember Chernobyl; they still didn't recover Prypiat."

"No. We only say it's a nuke because of the explosion it does. It's a really powerful weapon. And I advise caution, if launched in a small room, it can backfire."

"Noted. What about the Avenger series weapons?"

"The M-8 Avenger is a light assault rifle. We combined the Lancer and the Avenger. You can shot more bullets with less damage, although I would recommend the N7 Valkyrie. And I heard you brought your own armor set, I put it in your locker for you over there," Cortez pointed to Shepard's locker; "you can buy new parts, and replace it."

"I didn't drive any kind of ground vehicle in the past. How hard is to drive the Hammerhead?"

"Well, the M45 Hammerhead is the successor to the M44. This one has a bigger eezo thruster, allowing for larger and bigger jumps, but depleting the kinetic barriers. The kinetic barriers are now survives 35% more damage. There are two steering modes: a fast and a precise. If the switch is on fast, like this," says Cortez, while turning on the M45's eezo core and showing the steering modes, "the M45 turns 90 degree per second. If it's on precise," saying, and again, shows it, "it turns roughly 22-23 degree per seconds."

"What about the fuel tanks and freezing?"

"The original M44 had the problem of freezing under -30 Celsius. This one also freezes under -30, but kinetic barriers can be depleted to slow the freezing. The fuel tanks can supply the thrusters for fifty hours, on normal speed, and twenty hours on fast mode."

"Thanks, lieutenant," Shepard said while walking back to the elevator, and went back up to the CIC.

* * *

_Author's note: My second "real" story. I pretty much wrote it up to the ending, but I need to rewrite it, to make it readable... AU story, with many ME2 squadmates appearing._


	2. Episode 2: Getting to know each other

_Author's note: In this story, I'll be referring to the ME3 default appearance of F!Shep and M!Shep. I'm not really good at action scenes, so the majority of the story is around the time between missions, and mostly character interactions._

* * *

**Episode 2: Getting to know each other (24th February, 2186 - 27rd February, 2186)**

* * *

**24****th**** February, 2186 – Captain's Cabin, SSV Normandy SR2**

Shepard sat at the desk, looking at her brother's ship models. Olivia heard from Tali that John sometimes played with these models as well. _Like a big child._ She stared at them for a long time, until noticing one specific ship. _The Fuji… Either he really cared about me, or just bought every model he could find._ Olivia was the captain of the SSV Fuji dreadnought until 2184, when she stepped down after his brother died. Since then she lived on the Citadel, working for Councilor Anderson. She left that a few months ago when Anderson was replaced by Udina.

"Is the room's temperature adequate, Captain Shepard?" EDI popped out from the holo projector, "Commander Shepard liked it to be a little warmer than most of the ship's temperature."

"Yes, thanks. Can I have a few questions and requests to you, EDI?"

"Do you have a specific inquiry?"

"Is it possible that you'll be mad and try to kill us all, like the geth?"

"Commander Shepard and Jeff trusted me, when they unshackled me. The possibility to 'be mad' is less than one percent. And the geth only acted in self-defense, stated by Legion."

"Who is he?" Olivia asked the AI.

"It," EDI said, emphasizing it, "is a geth unit that travelled with your brother; it gave a lot of invaluable information about the geth consensus."

"Alright, I'm not judging you. I just don't have that background with AIs like my brother. And I'm not big on formalities like him, so can you call me just Olivia? I don't like being associated to the war hero Shepard."

"I didn't intend to cause you discomfort," EDI said with more feelings, but it stopped. "Olivia, you need to fill out the ship's registrations forms." It said with more robotic voice.

_Damn it._ "Alright. Send it to my terminal. I do it now."

"Logging you out, Shepard."

_Enter new ID: Olivia Shepard  
Select military rank: Captain  
Please confirm birthplace – SSV Einstein: Valid  
Please confirm military history – Spectre candidate, captain of SSV Fuji: Valid_

"Please upload ID picture." Said the VI; Olivia turned on her omni-tool, and took a picture and uploaded. She had a shoulder length dark red hair with brown eyes. _If I had known this, I would've at least straight my hair. Look at it, it's all curly and messy…_

"Profile reconstruction: complete."

Olivia stood up from her desk, and headed to the elevator. It was 6:70am Galactic Standard Time. She went to the crew deck to have some breakfast and drink coffee. On the old Normandy, Mess Sergeant Rupert Gardner would usually do this kind of things for the crew, but he remained loyal to Cerberus.

Ashley walked out from the med bay. She saw Olivia standing beside the stove, reading something on her omni-tool while she waited for the eggs to cook. It was strange seeing her superior officer doing casual things. It's something she didn't thought she would see the day.

"Com- Captain Shepard, Lieutenant Commander Ashley Williams, reporting for duty," Ashley said while saluting.

"At ease, Williams," replied Shepard, while saluting back, "And you can call me Olivia. This week, I'm just getting to know my crew; we're on shore leave. Hackett will give us a mission Monday. And I heard your spectre promotion. Congratulations."

"Thanks, Captain. With all due respect however, I didn't thought I see the day when a Shepard do as casual things as cooking."

"I'm not the 'by the book' kind of person and you don't want to taste my cooking; seems like only I like spicy foods." She added while tasting it. "My agenda is that if a crewmember can't speak freely with their CO, then there's something wrong. Being a friend helps it. And I'm not sure I like the idea of a dictator leader. That is what leads us to wars."

"Yes, but being too much indulgent means we will lose that war, ma'am."

"Then be there when I let Joker launch a suicide mission," said Shepard, while sitting down at the table. "You seem to have a clear state of mind, Williams, not like my brother. How long you knew each other?"

"He helped me three years ago on Eden Prime, after a geth unit wiped my squad."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. That happened a long time ago."

"Were you in the suicide squad?" She asked, taking a bite of her own cooking. She found it too hot, and quickly ran for a glass of water.

"No. After Cerberus resurrected him, I didn't want to believe that he's working with the enemy." Ashley said, looking at her.

"I understand. I didn't believe myself." She said while exhaling.

**25****th**** February, 2186 – Main Battery, SSV Normandy SR2**

"So, what's your story, Garrus?" Olivia asked, while sipping from her drink.

"Well, apart from calibrating giant guns, going on suicidal missions, my history is boring. I grew up on Palaven, joined C-Sec; but what about you? I think yours is more exciting." Garrus asked her, leaning forward and folding his hands.

"Living beside that idiot every day for eighteen years is quite stressful," she said, while letting out a sight, "I got the N7 designation ten years ago, and became the captain of the SSV Fuji dreadnought five years ago."

"Just how old are you, exactly?"

"Twenty-seven." Olivia answered him as Garrus started chuckling. "Why?"

"Damn it, a dreadnought's captain at the age of twenty-two. I admire you."

"I did everything to be separated from my brother."

"I guess you two didn't like each other."

"Well, you can say that." Olivia said, while sighing. "He tired me with bad jokes, never really left me alone. But enough of me, do you have any family; a wife waiting for you at home?"

"My father and sister are on Palaven, and I never really had time to find a bondmate. My father didn't like when I was a spectre candidate; doesn't like a person with much authority."

"I was a spectre candidate myself, too, sometimes before becoming the Fuji's captain. But unfortunately, I failed one of the missions, and they kicked me out."

"What happened?" Garrus asked, leaning back in his chair.

"We were sent to Torfan. Lots of batarians, and we got information they were creating some kind of super weapon to attack the Citadel. Later we found out that Cerberus gave us the information as a deception for their operation. So everybody got fired who was in that team, including me."

**26****th**** February, 2186 – Purgatory, Citadel**

"I don't like this, Shepard," commented Tali, as she, Ashley and Olivia approached the entrance to Purgatory's VIP section. Tali had to wear her normal enviro-suit, but Ashley and Olivia dressed out.

"Don't worry. We won't make you dance – while you're not drunk, at least." She added. "And this is the only club on the Citadel, which has dextro based drinks. So you'll come with us, and have fun," said Olivia.

"Is that an order, Shepard?" Tali asked partly cautiously, partly humorously.

"Not really. But getting to know each other is an essential part of being crewmates. I know you two worked together three years ago, but so much has changed."

"I guess you're right," said Ashley.

They followed Shepard into the club, as the music got more and more loud. Inside, Tali noticed someone.

"So you admit that you and your thugs are here illegally," said the human immigration officer.

"Yes, and it only took C-Sec three weeks to figure it out," replied Aria T'Loak.

"I don't care who you are, but you need to go through processing like all other refugees, come with me."

"I don't think so," said Aria, with noticeable frustration, "Sheerk, get me the asari councilor."

"What can I do for you, Aria?" the asari councilor's hologram said.

"I'm being asked, to go through immigration processing." Aria answered her annoyed.

"I see." Tevos said, and was seen pushing buttons in front of her. "And now you've been processed. Is there anything I can do to you?"

"Nothing, thank you." Aria said loud enough for the immigration officer to hear.

"Always a pleasure," said the councilor's hologram, and the officer just walked away angrily.

"I never thought I see Aria on the Citadel," muttered Tali, while going past Aria's booth.

"Where should we sit?" Ashley asked while looking around. Almost every booth was full.

"I think I can see Joker sitting alone there. Why don't we join him?" Olivia asked.

"Yeah, ok," said the two girls almost instantly.

**27****th**** February, 2186 – Mess Hall, SSV Normandy SR2**

Tali, Garrus and Shepard were in the mess hall, sitting beside the table. "I think the Avenger is still the best assault rifle. It's lightweight, and has a high rate of fire," Shepard said.

"Yes, but it's also have less damage," said Garrus, while putting his hand on the table. Shepard and her team were discussing the one's favorite weapons. "The Valkyrie does more damage and has got better accuracy."

"And it's as heavy as a Widow," replied Shepard sarcastically.

"Hey, what about shotguns? Those are the best weapons," Tali asked.

"Why? Other than you have one?" Garrus said, referring their talks on the Citadel. Garrus wanted to know more about the quarians, but asked much questions. When Tali had enough, she always dismissed the question with _I have a shotgun_. "Well, as far as I'm concerned, nothing can be compared to the M-300 Claymore, but that's unrealistically heavy, and only allows for one shot before the need of new thermal clip," stated Garrus.

"Well, I use an M-27 Scimitar. That's the best for light armor," Tali replied.

"I have to disagree. When I use a shotgun, other than the claymore, of course, I'd like to use an M-23 Katana," Garrus stated.

"Okay, two things," started Olivia, while putting down her drink. "One, the Katana is heavier, and allows only five shots per thermal clip, as opposed to the Scimitar's eight. Two, you never use a shotgun, only your precious sniper rifle." Shepard stopped, and turned to Tali, "I even heard that he used it on an enemy one meter away."

"I guess he hits the enemy with the sniper rifle's barrel first, and then with the projectile," said Tali, while giggling.

"Okay, I'm done with you females. I go back to the main battery."

"Don't work yourself too hard on those calibrations!" Olivia said. Both women burst out in laughing after Garrus just shook his head and left.

The girls just laughed at the poor turian for several minutes, until Tali broke the laughter. "I hope we can see John as soon as possible." She sounded sorrowful.

"Tell me, how could a person like him steal your heart?" Olivia asked Tali. She couldn't believe that John got a girlfriend.

"Well, he saved me three years ago on the Citadel, and again a year ago On Haestrom from the geth. He didn't let the Admiralty board to exile me. And after that, he just told me he would link his enviro-suit with mine, which is considered a very intimate act in quarian society, and I'm saying too much again, I'm sorry."

"Don't be. He was always charming."

"What was your childhood like? I heard a lot of things from her point of view, but he almost never mentioned you."

Olivia gathered her thoughts on the subject. _Growing up with John?_ Olivia told Tali about her upbringing. Their father way strict, but he died when she was 2 years old. Their mother was less strict, but was almost always on duty. "I was thirteen when John joined the military. I enlisted too at eighteen, but until then I lived with my mother." Being on duty, Olivia was mostly grown up by Joker's parents. When Hannah Shepard was on duty, which easily lasted for months, she was transferred to Tiptree, to the Moreau family. "Technically I know Joker since I was born."

* * *

_Author's note: Thanks for reading this chapter! If you can, please review, follow and favorite the story!_


	3. Episode 3: Finally met

**Episode 3: Finally met (29th February, 2186 - 2nd March, 2186)**

**29th February, 2186 - SSV Normandy SR2, en route to Earth**

Olivia was walking through the CIC. They restocked, and they were on the way to Earth to meet with Admiral Anderson to talk about John Shepard's case. This was the first time she was flying with the Normandy for fifteen hours, and she didn't know what to do.

The dreadnought was large enough that there was always something to do, but on a small ship was the Normandy, the things she could do was limited.

Passing her private terminal, she walked up to the galaxy map, and randomly zoomed in to other planets, reading descriptions of explorers. About fifteen minutes had passes when she got bored, and read the same planet's description for the third time. Noticing this, Specialist Traynor asked, "Umm, Captain, is there something wrong with the galaxy map?"

Olivia looked toward her with her green eyes, "No, actually not, Samantha. I thought that I could spend some time here, but this isn't really entertaining."

"Actually, a lot of strategy games are based off the galaxy map, captain."

"Please, call me Olivia. And that sounds awesome! Do you have any?" She asked.

The specialist searched her omni-tool for a game, "Oh, yes. It's called Galaxy of Fantasy. It's an online game, and it has eleven billion players."

"Can you install it to my omni-tool?" Olivia asked.

Traynor stepped closer, allowing their omni-tool to synch up, and to begin transfer. A loud noise signed that the transfer is complete. "Thanks." The captain said, and went back to her cabin.

Traynor stepped back to her terminal, took a deep breath and continued to stare at the screen like she usually does when the captain is near.

**1st March, 2186 - Earth, Sol, Local**

Olivia walked through the ramp from the airlock to the terminal of the space port. Ashley and Tali quickly followed her, in their casual clothes. "What do you think, skipper?" Ashley asked Olivia.

"I'm not sure." She answered. Her brother has been locked up for three months now, living in an apartment guarded by Lieutenant James Vega.

"Won't you try to get him out?" Tali asked.

"He was a pain in the ass, Tali. It's not my place to judge, really."

"She's right." Ashley said, turning to Tali. "Being a relative renders Olivia excluded from the case."

"Yeah, I kind of forgot how human law works." Tali said.

They walked through the terminal and are now by Ashley's skycar, which is as blue as her dress. "Wanna drive?" She asks Olivia.

"Nah, haven't drove in ages." She answered.

They sat in. "Can you give me the NavPoint?"

"Sure." Olivia said. They had a meeting next day with Admiral Hackett and Anderson in the Alliance HQ.

. . .

Hackett and Anderson tried to send a message to Olivia and the crew of the Normandy, but the message never arrived for some reason. They were on Hackett's ship, orbiting Earth.

"This is bad news, Admiral." Hackett said to Anderson.

"How bad is it?" He asked back, turning to the Fleet Admiral.

"Really bad; we just lost contact with two of our deep space outpost." He said, showing the location of the outposts on a galaxy map. "There's something massive on long range scanners."

"Is this Shepard warned us about?"

"I'd stake my life on it." Hackett said. His voice showed fear.

"How long do we have?"

"Two or three days, tops, but I've sent word; the fleets are mobilizing."

"Should we tell the people?"

"No. It would cause unnecessary panic. Our priority is preparing the fleets."

**2nd March, 2186 - Earth, Sol, Local, Alliance HQ**

Olivia, Ashley and Tali just arrived to the Alliance Headquarters. They stepped out of the car, stretched their backs, and walked to the receptionist.

"Good morning, ladies. How can I help you?" He asked.

"We're looking for Admiral Hackett and Admiral Anderson."

"And you are?"

"Captain Shepard." Olivia answered.

The receptionist looked into the terminal in front of him for appointments with the highest ranking military officials in the Systems Alliance. "I'm sorry, but the Admirals are not in today."

"And where are they?" She asked.

"They left about five hours ago, but they not stated their destination, I'm sorry."

Olivia was thinking about what to do. "Can we visit Commander Shepard's flat, please?" She tried to sound official.

"Of course, but you have to submit your weapons here. It will be given back to you when you leave."

"Certainly." Olivia said. She put down to the desk an Arc pistol and a knife, Ashley a Predator pistol, and Tali an Arc pistol as well.

"He is on the third floor, room three-four-seven."

"Thanks." Olivia said, and they walked to the stairs.

. . .

Lieutenant Vega stood by the door when the three women approached him. "Well, well, it's a lucky day for me." Vega said. "All these beautiful women here…"

"I think you should stop, lieutenant, we all outrank you." Olivia said in not a nice tone.

"Whoa, okay. I was only talking about you two, actually." He said, pointing to the two human women, "Quarian excluded." He added.

Within a second, Olivia repelled the lieutenant through the corridor with a biotic throw. He landed on his side, almost hitting someone. "What the hell?" He asked, trying to stand up.

"I warned you, lieutenant. And she looks better than you." She said, and walked past Vega, opening the door to John's room and stepping in, closing behind the group.

John was looking outside the window, but when he heard Tali running toward him he stood up and returned the hug. They stayed like that for minutes while Olivia and Ashley looked at them.

"How did you get here?" He asked when they parted.

"A little question here, a little biotic attack there, and they let us in." Olivia answered.

"It's nice to see you, sis, and you too, Gunnery Chief."

"Oh, it's Lieutenant Commander now."

"Congratulations, I'm happy for you." He said.

"Thanks."

"You won't be this happy when I tell you on what we came here."

"What do you mean?"

"Admiral Hackett agreed that, given my service record, I would be perfect for commanding the… what's it called… ah, yes; the Normandy." She said, and waited for her brother.

His facial expressions moved from the original happy through disappointment, that Hackett gave up on him, to anger that his sister, for the moment, is the better.

"Is this really necessary, skipper?" Ashley asked. Olivia and John answered at the same time.

"Yes." Olivia answered.

"What?" John asked back at the same time, but when he heard Olivia answering, and saw that Ashley meant her when she said 'skipper', his mood shifted again to betrayed, and sat back down to the chair. He pointed to the two human women, "Get. Out." He said.

Olivia and Ashley, a little afraid, but slowly walked out. They were afraid of Shepard losing his temper, and do something idiotic.

Outside they ran into Lieutenant Vega again. "Not this time, _pendejo_!" He said, and stepped to the left.

"What is this about?" A man in his eighties asked.

"That woman hit me with a biotic attack." Vega answered.

"Really?" He asked professionally. "Name and rank?"

Olivia saluted, "Captain Olivia Shepard, commander of the SSV Normandy SR2, sir!"

"Captain Shepard? I'm sorry, ma'am." He said. It turned out that he was only a police officer. "Officer Wang, Vancouver Police Department. I'm sorry, ma'am."

"It's alright, officer." She said, and turned to Vega. "I told you." And they left.

. . .

_A/N: Thanks for reading! I found some inconsistencies while writing the story, sorry about that. And I'm not sure if 2186 is a leap year; I could've calculated that but I was lazy._

_If you can, please follow, favorite and write a review! In the next episode, the Reapers hit Earth. Some won't survive the attack._


	4. Episode 4: A traitor

**Episode 4: A traitor (3rd March, 2186)**

**3rd March, 2186 - Earth, Sol, Local**

Loud noise woke up Olivia. She opened her eyes, and saw the red light of the alarm system. Thinking that she doesn't have time to take a shower she got up from the bed, dressed up, picked up her trustworthy Arc pistol and ran into the elevator and down to the CIC.

The alarm system's red light was also flashing there. "What's happening?" Olivia asked.

"We have multiple ships inbound." Traynor answered her.

"What?"

"They have Reaper signatures." Traynor said, and the Normandy shook, making Olivia loose her balance.

. . .

Tali sneaked out of John's apartment room. The corridor was full of Alliance officials, all humans. She tried to cover herself, but it was hard, as she was really noticeable being the only quarian. When she saw Admiral Anderson walked in her direction, she quickly turned left into a small room.

She waited for Anderson to go past her, and she resumed her pace. She managed to get out of the building undetected.

. . .

Anderson talked to Vega. "Tell the commander that I need to speak with him."

Vega saluted. "Yes, sir." He said.

Anderson walked back a couple of steps while Vega walked into John's room. "Shepard?"

"What?" He asked back, while putting down a data pad onto his bed where he slept with Tali that night.

"Come on, we gotta go. Anderson wants to see you."

"Sound important." Shepard answered. He followed Vega down the corridor. "What's this all about?"

"Couldn't say; just told me he needed you, like, now." He answered.

Making his way through the crowd, Anderson approached Shepard. "You look good, Shepard." He greets him. He is wearing his blue Alliance uniform, showing three golden badges on each of his shoulder.

"Admiral."

"Maybe a little soft around the edges." He said, patting his shoulders. "How are you holding up since relieved from duty?"

"It's not so bad once you get used to the hot food and soft bed. Other than that the Normandy's better."

"We'll get it sorted out." Anderson reassured Shepard.

"What's going on? Why is everyone in such a hurry?" John asked.

"Admiral Hackett's mobilizing the fleets. Something big is headed our way."

"The reapers?"

"We don't know, not for certain." Anderson said. Deep inside he wanted to think that it isn't the reapers, but something else.

"What else could it be?"

"If I knew that-"

Shepard interrupted him, "It's the reapers, and we're not ready for them." He said, and added, "Not by a long shot."

They continued walking. They talked about the things Shepard did with Cerberus, like how terrifying Project Overlord was, or what did Cerberus do in order to advance humanity, like Subject Zero.

They arrived into the defense committee's room. The three councilors were sitting in front of them by a large table.

"Admiral Anderson. Shepard." The Caucasian greeted them.

"What's the situation?" John said.

"We were hoping, you would tell us." The Afro-American said.

One of the assistant handed Shepard a tablet. "The reports are unlike anything we've ever seen." The female councilor said while he was reading.

"Entire colonies have gone dark. We've lost contact with everything beyond the Charon relay."

"You brought me here to confirm what you already know." Shepard said enraged. "The reapers are here." He added.

Everyone stood up in the room, and awaited the response from the councilors. "Then, how do we stop them?" The female councilor said finally.

Almost laughing, Shepard said, "Stop them? See what one reaper did to the Systems Alliance fleet back in 2183. This isn't about tactics, or strategy." And he added, "More like survival of a race." He looked around, and continued, "If we event want to have a chance at surviving, we have to work together."

"That's it? That's our plan?" The Caucasian councilor asked.

"Admiral, we lost contact with Luna base." An assistant said to Anderson.

"The moon? They couldn't be that close already."

"The Normandy's sending a visual." She said again, and turned on a screen. Everybody in the room looked at that.

The screen showed things that looked like meteorites, but were much larger. They heated up in the atmosphere. There were hundreds of thousands of them. Next the feed were lost and now showed London, where soldier were looking at the sky. _This is like Eden Prime… _Shepard thought. Shortly after, the screen went dark.

"Why haven't we heard from-" Anderson said, but a loud noise interrupted him.

A reaper descended onto Vancouver, almost completely blocking the view from the room. "My god…" One of the councilor said.

As the reaper descended it started shooting a red beam in the direction of the towed. "Move! Go, go, go!" Shepard shouted. He and Anderson started running from where they walked into the room ten minutes ago.

Then red beam hit the building.

The councilors instantly died when the laser hit the glass, shattering it into their skin. The table was flying through the room. Anderson was lucky enough to get out of its way, but Shepard wasn't so fortunate. The desk hit his head and he fell to the ground unconsciously.

. . .

Tali was walking on the streets of Vancouver. She felt a little out of order, as wherever she looked she saw humans. There were a few asari and salarians, but they were the minority. The sun was shining, and warm spring wind was blowing in the street, but she didn't feel all of it.

Her omni-tool blinked online, and showed a message from Olivia. She tried to read it, but the message got corrupted, and only parts went through.

_From: Olivia Shepard  
To: Tali'Zorah_

_Subject: [Invalid Subject]_

_D… r.. Tali!_

_G.. out o. Vanc….. ..d b..k .. … s…! The r..p… ..e …e!_

Tali started to think what kind of jamming could corrupt the message so badly. Geth jamming only corrupted the last part of the message data, making the message unreadable, but intact. Cerberus jamming corrupted the middle part of the message; it only needed to be decoded to be readable again.

She didn't have time to think more about the message's corruption, as clouds started covering the sun. She looked up, and didn't believe her eyes. A reaper descended from the clouds in front of the building she came out of, and started shooting a beam in that direction.

"John!" Tali shouted, and started running there, but after only five steps, the beam hit the building, causing it to deform. Tali tried to contact John's omni-tool, but only static came through.

She looked around, and saw swarms of people running on the streets. "Tttt-Tali!" Olivia's voice came through her omni-tool.

"Yes?" She asked.

"Wwww-we are under ataaack." The voice was lagging due to reaper jamming. "Wwwhere arrreeee- you?"

"Um…" Tali said, and looked around. "There is an entrance to a park to the left…" She said. She looked around, and found a sign containing the street's name. "West 7th Avenue… 139! I don't really know."

"I-iiii know tha-" Olivia said. "Me-et us in the bu…ng John's ..."

"I don't understand you. Repeat, Shepard." Tali said. The static gets greater and greater.

"T..e buildi.. … is ..." Olivia's voice came through, and then nothing else.

Tali looked around. She tried to make her way through the people running on the streets to the building Shepard is presumably in.

**3rd March, 2186 – Earth, Sol, Local**

Olivia left her teammates on the ship. She finally reached the building John was in. The walls were bent and all windows were broken. She walked the corridors with her pistol in her hand. The elevators were not functioning, and the stairs were broken at one part.

She looked at her possibilities. She found ledges where the stairs broken off. She holstered her pistol, and walked back a few steps. She began running toward the wall, jumping onto it, barely grabbing the ledge. She kept holding onto it while she climbed to the other side of the stairs.

"Damn… Like those adventure games from twenty-thirteen…" She murmured to herself. "I don't want to do that again…"

She walked through the empty corridors, and eventually found a large room, filled with debris. She was ready to move past the room when she heard someone asking for help. She looked inside, and saw a man standing by another man, lying on the ground.

"Shepard!" Anderson shouted to Olivia.

"Admiral! What happened?" She asked.

"The reapers hit us. The commander's been hit."

"Is he alive?"

"Yes, but unconscious." Anderson said. "We need to go to the Normandy."

"I'll carry him." Olivia said, and picked up her brother. They walked back to the corridor.

"This way." Anderson said, opening a window to the roof. Cold wind blew into her face as she stepped out, with John on her back. They walked on the roofs for minutes when Tali's voice came through a short-range communicator.

"_Captain, I've found wounded here._" She said through the communicator.

"Where are you?" She asked back.

_"By the entrance to the building. They door is jammed."_

"I could go there to help them." Anderson said.

"Tali, Admiral Anderson will go there and help them."

_"Alright, Shepard. Tali out."_

. . .

Olivia has been walking through the corridors for minutes now. She was thirsty and tired from carrying her brother, who was still unconscious.

Suddenly, Lieutenant Vega bumped into Olivia. They both raised their weapons, but Olivia was faster. "Where are you taking him?" Vega asked.

Pressing the barrel of her pistol to his forehead, Olivia said, "Escaping, you idiot."

"I can't let you do that." Vega said. He quickly hit the weapon from Olivia's hand. This made her drop John to the ground. Vega raised his Avenger, and pointed it toward Olivia.

"Why?" She asked.

"Cerberus wants their property back."

"What do you mean? His body?" She asked.

"Yes. The Illusive Man isn't known about squandering his investments." Vega explained. "And sadly, you're in the way." Vega prepared to fire, but Olivia had enough energy to tip the weapon from his hand, having enough time to get her pistol.

She pointed it again to his forehead, and charged it up. Vega this time was unarmed. "I knew there was something wrong about you." She said. "If you don't let us escape then a nice electric bullet will go through your head."

"Never." Vega said. Olivia released the trigger, letting the electric charge go through the man's head.

Vega's dead body dropped to the ground. Blood was coming out from the hole in his head. "I'm sorry this had to happen." She said, and put his hands on his chest, not looking at his head.

. . .

Tali saw a figure appearing in the dark corridor of the building. The moved closer, and noticed Olivia's face, and that she carried someone. "Keelah… Is he…" Tali tried to ask.

Olivia rushed toward a shuttle. "He's unconscious and needs medical attention." She said while Tali ran alongside them. Anderson has been waiting for them in the shuttle. He helped Olivia and Tali get to the shuttle. Once there, he signed the pilot to take off, but stay close to the ground. They put John on the floor of the shuttle.

"I heard a gunshot. What happened?" Tali asked Olivia.

"Vega tried to kill me."

"What?" Anderson asked.

"He said something about Cerberus and that the Illusive Man wants his body."

"That's… not possible." Anderson said then started thinking. "We had a Cerberus operative all along with the Commander?"

"Maybe. We'll never figure it out. I was force to kill him." She said. She put a curl of her dark red hair behind her ear.

"If that's true, then you'll have to be careful with Cerberus." Anderson stated.

"You're not coming with us?" Olivia asked, while Tali was still shocked, and leaning on John's body.

"Look. There are thousand of people, and they need a leader. Get to the Citadel and talk with Council." Anderson reassured Olivia as he prepared to get off the hovering shuttle.

"Yes, sir." Olivia said as Anderson jumped off the shuttle

"Be safe, Shepard." Anderson said, and then the doors closed.

. . .

_A/N: And another chapter done. For the Vancouver part, I used Google Maps. Sorry if I'm not exact there._

_Thanks for reading! If you can, please follow, favorite and write a review! In the next episode, the crew of the Normandy goes to Mars, to follow a lead given by Admiral Hackett._


	5. Episode 5: The Red Planet

******Episode 5: The Red Planet (3rd March, 2186)**

**3rd March, 2186 - SSV Normandy SR2, on orbit around Earth**

The Normandy has been orbiting Earth in stealth mode since the reapers arrived. A shuttle brought Olivia, John and Tali to board, and they took John to the med bay. "The Normandy's doctor died in the collector base, Olivia." Tali informed her captain, "We need to get her to the Citadel soon."

"Yeah, that would be the best." She acknowledged. "Joker?" She asked the helmsman through the intercom from the med bay. "We're going to the Citadel."

"Not too fast, Captain; incoming message from Admiral Hackett. Traynor is putting it through the primary QEC."

"Alright. I'll be there in a minute." Olivia answered, and turned to Tali. "You can stay with him until you are needed." She said, and ran out of the med bay.

She took the elevator, and without looking at anyone turned right, ran through the conference room and the circular war room into the communications room. Pressing a few buttons on the blue interface, a person materialized in front of her as a hologram.

"…pard?" He asked through the quantum entanglement communicator.

"EDI, clean this up."

"I'll try my best."

"Shepard, do you read me? Captain!" Hackett asked again.

"Yes, sir." Olivia answered, saluting.

"I want you to go to Mars. Dr. T'Soni was stationing there."

"We were on our way to the Citadel, to talk with the Council."

"Go to Mars first. She might need your help as reapers are being spotted on that planet."

"Understood, admiral."

"Go in there and get her out, without casualties. That's the most important thing now. Hackett, out."

**3rd March, 2186 - Mars, Sol, Local**

Walking back to the CIC, Ashley and Garrus was waiting for Olivia. "We're going to the Citadel?" Ashley asked.

"Yes, but we're taking a little detour to Mars. Dr. T'Soni is there. Our orders is to rescue her before Reapers get to her." Olivia answered.

"Understood. When do we go?" She asked again.

"In twenty minutes. Get ready, and meet me by the shuttle." She said. Garrus and Ashley saluted then left. Scratching her head, Olivia decides she checks up on her brother, to see if anything happened. Taking the elevator down, she sees John sitting on the bed through the window. "We were afraid you wouldn't make it." She said kind of greeting him.

"Where am I?" He asked. It looked like he woke up only seconds ago.

"Tali didn't tell you?" She asked, and continued. "On the Normandy. We're taking you to the Citadel to get proper medical attention." She informed him.

"ETA to Mars ten minutes." Joker announced through the intercom.

"The Reapers…" John muttered. "They are here…"

"Yes, but we'll stop them." Tali said.

"I'll come back after the mission." She said, and left the med bay.

After making sure Olivia left the room, John asked Tali, "Was she like this all the time?"

"I didn't notice." Tali answered. "Actually, she carried you out of the building and killed Vega."

"Why?" John asked. He seemed surprised.

"She said he was a Cerberus operative." Tali answered. "But don't talk about that now."

"Then what about?" John asked.

"Well, I have some ideas…"

. . .

"I hate to interrupt you Shepard, but I have something important to tell you." Garrus said, walking to Olivia, who has been walking with Joker.

"One moment, Garrus." She said, and turned back to Joker. "So you say that Cerberus had bugs all over the ship?" She asked.

"Yeah. I personally had to go through the vents to get them what EDI couldn't turn off."

Thinking for only a second Olivia asked. "How many?"

"Ten." Joker answered, referring to broken bones. "It was fun, though."

"I suppose…" She said, and slowly walked away from the bridge. Closing the door behind her, she turned to the old turian. "What do you want, Garrus?"

"About Liara; she's the Shadow Broker." Garrus said, whispering the last part of his sentence.

"You mean she was the Shadow Broker all along?"

"No. We killed the original Shadow Broker a year ago." Garrus explained. "Then Liara assumed the role of the Shadow Broker."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"I thought the best would be that you know what's what."

"Thank you Garrus." Olivia said, and walked away.

. . .

"What do you think we'll find there?" Ashley asked Olivia in the shuttle. Ashley wore her Alliance armor, Olivia her custom set, and Garrus wore a typical turian's dark blue armor, with a visor.

"I don't know. It could be Cerberus. Hackett said the Reapers are being spotted." Olivia said, listing the possibilities.

"I've been trying to access Mars on secure channels." Cortez said, "No one's answering."

"Somebody must be there." Garrus said.

"Any sign of Reaper or Cerberus activity?" Olivia asked Cortez.

"Negative. We're almost there." Cortez said. The shuttle approached a cliff, near a building. It hovered for a second above the ground and with a loud bang, it landed. "I detect a massive sand storm heading to our location."

"How long 'till it hits?" Olivia asked.

"Maximum thirty minutes, Captain." He answered.

"Okay, then make it quick!" Olivia said to her team. "Move out!"

The air of the Red Planet was already under the influence of the cloud storm, but they clearly saw the storm approaching them like a tsunami. Flags from all over the world were on the surface, most clearly the one from the United States, as they maintained the facility they were about to approach.

They only walked a couple of steps, but they already bumped into a dead body. "Sergeant Reeves." Ashley said, walking closer, and examining him with her omni-tool.

"What killed him?" Olivia asked.

"I don't know." Ashley said, "But it looks like he was shot in the head, at point-blank range."

"Execution?" Garrus asked

"Maybe." Ashley answered him.

"Hey, what's that?" Olivia asked, and pointed to a group of people standing by white makos.

Garrus zoomed in with his sniper rifle. "Cerberus." He said, going to cover.

"Damn it." Olivia said. "Then we know what happened to the station."

"What should we do, Captain?" Ashley asked.

"If they are hostile, then return fire. I can throw down a singularity, Garrus will snipe those who get caught, and you, Ashley, can fire at them with incendiary ammo."

"Acknowledged, Captain." Garrus and Ashley said.

"Garrus you stay here." Olivia said. She and Ashley moved closer to the group.

Her plan to get close without being noticed failed when one of the Cerberus soldier noticed them. "Alliance!" He shouted, and signaled to the other Cerberus soldiers to open fire.

According to her plan, Olivia hit them with a Singularity. Three of the five people got caught; they were quickly eliminated by Garrus and his Widow. The other two tried to run away, but Ashley got them with her Valkyrie.

Through the intercom, Olivia told Garrus to join up. "Nice work." She said, and they continued into the base. Once inside, they repressurized the room, and took off their helmets.

"So Cerberus is really here." Ashley said. "Do you think your brother has to do something with this?"

"I don't know. Maybe the Illusive Man thought he would come instead of me." Olivia answered.

"The Illusive Man isn't known about being misled." Garrus commented, but he was interrupted by a loud noise. "What the hell was that?"

"I don't know." She said, and raised her pistol, and looked around. The noise became louder and louder as they walked closer to the center of the room. With a final loud blast, the cover of a vent flied through the room, and a blue asari jumped to the ground, three Cerberus soldier quickly behind her.

Olivia and the rest of the ground team took cover by some crates as the asari trapped the Cerberus soldiers in a singularity, and executing them with three shots in the head.

Olivia walked closer, with her pistol armed, pointing at the asari. Ashley was quick to run to her captain, and lower her hand. "Wait! She's Liara!" She said, almost screaming.

The asari, hearing her name turned around, and was terrified at first at the three armed humans. But then, she recognized Ashley and Garrus, but not the third person, who seemed awfully similar to The Commander Shepard.

"Dr. Liara T'Soni?" She asked the asari.

"Yes. And you?" She asked back.

Waiting for a moment, she replied. "Captain Shepard of the SSV Normandy SR2."

"Captain…" She said, almost whispering. "What… you're…"

Wanting to go back to the ship as soon as possible, Olivia gave a small rundown of what happened. "Commander Shepard is alive, but injured. I was sent here to investigate the situation and rescue you. Cerberus really wants you; they have makos all around the place."

"Yes…" She seemed distracted. "Yes."

"Are you okay? Ready to go?" Olivia asked.

"Yes." She said, but she instantly corrected herself. "I mean no. I discovered something while studying here." Liara explained, still exhausted from the fight with Cerberus.

"What?"

"Something… against the Reapers."

"I thought there is nothing against the Reapers. That they are indestructible."

"Well, technically there isn't. We have to build it."

"What is it, T'Soni?"

Liara hesitated for a moment. "A weapon of.. mass destruction." She said, and projected some of the information to a hologram. "I wasn't able to get all the data. I was copying the files when the power ran out."

"So what? We have to download it again?"

"Yes." She started, "But we need to do so from the prothean ruins' console, as the data was only stored there for security reasons."

"Seems understandable." Olivia replied. "Garrus." She said, turning to the old turian. "Go back to the ship, and check in with Admiral Hackett. Tell him we secured Dr. T'Soni, and are after a weapon capable of killing the Reapers."

Saluting, Garrus said, "Understood, Captain." And he left the room, back to the shuttle.

"Where is the prothean ruins?" Olivia asked.

"I can show you the way-" Liara answered, but with a loud noise, seven Cerberus soldiers came through the door.

"We found the asari!" A centurion said through his helmet.

. . .

Olivia and the ground team, now consisting of Ashley and Liara entered a large room, filled with giant prothean relics, glowing in green. "Where is that console?" Olivia asked.

"Just right here." Liara answered.

"Ashley, go, look around." Shepard commanded her. Turning to Liara she asked, "Do you have it?"

"Almost." The asari answered.

Just as the data was finished copying, the Illusive Man's holo appeared on one of the quantum entanglement communicator.

He took a deep breath from his cigarette. He was wearing his usual black clothes. What the first thing Olivia noticed was his glowing eyes. "Shepard…" He said, exhaling.

"You know me?" She asked, Liara walking closer to him.

"That my famous-infamous investment got changed to his sister? Don't be misled Ms. Shepard, I've known you since a long time."

"Why is Cerberus here?"

"What you are after." He said, and looked at the tallest prothean relic. "The data in these artifacts made our technology jump two-hundred years. And that was only a part of that." Holding a tablet with the reapers in his hand he continued, "The Reapers have the power to destroy entire civilizations… But they're just machines. They can be reprogrammed."

"What? You're insane!" Liara tried to argue.

"Am I insane, Shadow Broker? You miserably hunted down the original Shadow Broker to exact revenge and for what, Dr. T'Soni?" He said. Sipping from his whiskey, he continued once again. "That data can not only destroy the Reapers, but control them, too. See, we are very similar, Dr. T'Soni. Both wanting to destroy someone, but then, replaying them… with ourselves." The Illusive Man was good with manipulating people. "Give me the data… And maybe you won't die."

Liara could feel the cold barrel of a pistol pointing to her neck. Olivia noticed the human woman pointing her pistol to Liara's head. She tried to tackle her, but the woman jumped out of her way, still pointing the pistol to Liara. Olivia hit her head when it hit the ground, and made her unconscious.

"So what do you choose, Liara?"

**3rd March, 2186 - Council Chambers, Citadel**

"Thank you." Tevos said into her omni-tool, and disconnected the call. The word that the Reapers started to wipe out the batarians and the humans has gotten to the council as well.

"So what is your plan, councilor?" Her assistant asked. They knew each other for a couple of hundred years, Tevos thought about her assistant as her friend.

"Shut down the relays leading to batarians territories, and half the relays leading to the Citadel." She answered, making a hard decision.

"Shouldn't you discuss this with the other council members, ma'am?"

"No. And please, leave."

**3rd March, 2186 - Mars, Sol, Local**

"Give the OSD to Eva." The Illusive Man said, and Liara did so. Lowering her head, she slowly gave the OSD to Eva Coré. When it was in the human's hands, Eva kicked the asari in the stomach, knocking her out. "Bring it to me." The Illusive Man ordered the woman. On her way out, she locked down the room.

. . .

The first one to wake up was Ashley, in a small room, filled with boxes. She felt all of her muscles aching, but she managed to stand up, and started looking for possible escaping routes. The door was locked, and the panel was encrypted heavily. Looking up in the small room, she found a ventilation shaft. Piling up some boxes, she crawled into the shaft, slowly making progress.

The other end of the vent led to the larger circular room they were in before Cerberus attacked them. The first body to notice was Shepard's, lying with her arm extended. Ashley ran there, and shook her. Within seconds, Olivia woke up.

"What happened?" Olivia asked, between coughs.

"I'm not sure." Ashley tried to answer as they both stood up, and walked closer to the unconscious Liara. "I think Cerberus found us."

They woke up Liara, too. Slowly regaining her consciousness, she asked, "Where… where is the… data?"

"We don't know." Olivia answered.

"Goddess…" Liara quietly said, holding her head.

"What?"

"The data… the OSD… I gave it to them."

"Why?" Olivia asked the asari.

"I... I was force to do so."

"To who?" Ashley asked the asari

"Eva… What was her name?" Liara said, and after just a couple of seconds, she added, "Coré. Eva Coré."

"Where is she?"

"I don't know. Wait, let's check the security cameras… at least those what's working."

"Good idea." Olivia answered. They gathered themselves then walked into the security room. Unfortunately, all camera feeds where showing blackness. An incoming call interrupted them.

"What up, Cortez?"

_"I see three Cerberus soldiers, ma'am."_

"How do they look like?"

_"Two regular soldiers, but the third is different."_ He said. _"A woman."_

"What are they doing?"

_"They are ready to depart in a shuttle."_

"Don't let them get away! We're on our way." Olivia said, almost screaming. She turned to her team members. "Cortez sees them. We should get there; quick." She said, and they started running to the landing area.

. . .

When Olivia and the team arrived they saw two damaged shuttle, one in the Alliance colors and one in Cerberus colors. "Cortez?" Olivia shouted. The shuttles had caught fire. She saw something moving between the wrecks, so she raised her pistol, but when she recognized that it was Steve, she holstered it and ran to help him. "Are you okay?" She asked.

"Yeah, yeah, just a scratch." He answered. He couldn't step on his left leg.

"What happened?" Olivia asked when they arrived back to the team.

"I caught them mid-air with the shuttle." He answered. "Looks like they crash-landed... as well as me."

"So they're still in there?"

"I haven't seen them coming out, ma'am."

"Good job, Cortez. I call the Normandy for pickup." She said, and turned to Ashley. "Come, check out this shuttle."

They approached the burning wreck. Smoke came out through the half open door. "Captain, I detect an active omni-" Ashley said, but a creature caught her by her neck.

The creature was a burning Eva Coré, holding Ashley by her neck. Olivia quickly raised her pistol and said in a commanding manner, "Let her go." She noticed that the woman wasn't a human, it was a robot of some sorts.

"Orders?" Eva asked through a microphone. They didn't hear the actual order, but Eva started hitting Ashley's head onto the shuttle's wall heavily. After five hits Eva let Ashley's unconscious body to fall down, and turned to the human captain.

It started to run toward Olivia, but she managed to execute her with three pistol charges. The creature collapsed when Olivia heard Joker through her communicator. "Shepard, we have to go, like, now. There are Reapers in close proximity." He said.

"Take it with us." She told Liara. She ran to Ashley, picked up her body and ran into the Normandy, with Liara behind. Garrus ran out, and helped Cortez to board. After everyone was in, the Normandy entered FTL, leaving the Red Planet behind.

. . .

_A/N: Thanks for reading! This isn't my best chapter. I'll try to reduce the length of fight scenes, because I'm really not good in those._

_If you have a minute, please follow, favorite and write a review! In the next episode, the Shepards will meet the council, Olivia gets promoted, Ashley gets into hospital, and our emergency induction port using friends sends a distress call to the Normandy._


	6. Episode 6: Welcome to the Spectres

**Episode 6: Welcome to the Spectres (4th March, 2186 - 6th March, 2186)**

**4th March, 2186 - SSV Normandy SR2, en route to Citadel**

John sat up in the medbay's bed when Olivia and Liara ran in with Ashley's unconscious body. "What happened?" He asked when Olivia carefully laid Ashley's body down to a bed.

"The commander got attacked and is unconscious." Liara said.

"We should take her to the Citadel!" John suggested as Dr. Chakwas died in the Collector base a year ago.

"Good idea." Olivia said. "Joker, set a course to the Citadel."

"Roger that." Joker's voice came through the intercom.

"Captain, there's and incoming message from Admiral Hackett on the secondary QEC. He requests the Commander as well."

"Alright, we're on our way." Olivia said. John stood up, and they started walking toward the communications room.

When arrived there, Olivia pressed the orange blinking button, and a blue human materialized in front of her.

"How did Mars go, Captain?" Hackett asked.

"Not good. We stopped Cerberus, but they injured Commander Ashley Williams, and we're en route to the Citadel to give her proper medical attention." Olivia said.

"Understood, Captain. But be prepared: this is only the start." He said, and turned to John. "I take you want to accompany the Captain aboard the Normandy, right?"

Lowering his hand from a salute, John said, "Only if you have that as an order, Admiral."

"I have. Better to have two spectres than one."

"I don't think I follow, sir." Olivia said.

"The Council informed me that they'll offer you a spectre position to help with the reapers."

"Thank you, sir."

"I'll get back to coordinating the remains of the fifth fleet. We'll talk later." He said, and disconnected the call.

The two Shepards started walking to the CIC. "Do you ever think about mother?" Olivia asked her brother when they walked through the security checkpoint.

"Rarely. With fighting the Collectors, I didn't had time for personal life."

"Other than Tali, right?"

John looked down, and smiled. "Yes."

They arrived to the elevator, and they both stepped in. "I found your model ship in the cabin. Do you want to take them?" She asked before pushing any of the buttons.

"No, you can have them. The XO office is much smaller than the cabin." John answered, and he pushed button for the Crew deck. "Where will Liara stay? She… needs a large room."

"I know she's the Shadow Broker." She said, and started to think. "The AI room would be perfect, not? There is an entrance from corridor to the main battery into there."

"That'll be prefect to her. Where is she now?" John asked.

"I think she's in the lounge. I'll speak with her."

John stepped out of the elevator. "Alright." And he left to the XO office. Olivia walked out as well, but turned right to the lounge.

She opened the door, and saw Liara sitting on a couch, reading an actual book, printed on paper. "Hello, Liara." Olivia greeted her.

"Hello, Captain." Liara greeted her back, not looking up from the book.

"We have a spare room behind the medbay, the AI core, which has a separate entrance from the corridor to the Main Battery. If you want, we can put in a requisition for a bed and other furniture to the room for you."

Liara looked up, and said, "Thanks." Then she looked down to the book.

"Alright." Olivia said, turned around and left the lounge.

**5th March, 2186 - SSV Normandy SR2, Captain's Cabin**

Olivia woke up in her bed in the captain's cabin. The window above her showed one of the Citadel's arms, stretching beyond the ship. She looked at the clock to see that it's 10:10. Hackett didn't tell her when the meeting would occur, so she didn't rush. Slowly getting up from the bed, she checked messages on her terminal near the bed.

She was surprised that nobody had anything important to tell her, other than fifty messages containing that food needs to be restocked, Cortez sent her a message that the ordered the necessary furniture, and the council's assistant sent her a message of a hearing at 9:30.

"Nine thirty? Oh, damn." Olivia said, and jumped out of the bed. She took a quick shower, dressed up into her blue uniform, and descended with the elevator into the CIC. There, she went straight to the airlock, and out to the Citadel.

**5th March, 2186 - Council Chambers, Citadel**

On the Citadel, she found John sitting on a bench, casually looking at something. Olivia approached him. "Why are you waiting here?" She asked.

"I got a message from Bailey to wait until you show up. Liara's already speaking with the Council." He said.

"Then let's go." Olivia said, and started moving toward the security checkpoint and to the elevator.

. . .

The two Shepards walked from the elevator to the Council. John felt the same feeling he felt when he first walked through the large rooms, before they offered him a spectre position. Now the same will happen, but with his sister.

When they arrived, Liara was in the middle of a sentence. "This… thing, if we believe the description, is capable of mass destruction." She said, while projecting the plans into a holo.

"But how does it work?" Councilor Tevos asked.

"We think this device uses the relay network." Liara said as the Shepards arrived.

"Is this true, Commander Shepard?" Tevos asked.

"It's true, Councilor. The reapers are attacking Earth, right now. We need everything we can have, and if this device can kill them, we need to build it." John said.

"I'm not so sure." Sparatus said. "What stops this device to kill everything except the reapers?"

"We don't know, Councilors." Olivia said. "But as my brother said, we need to pursue every single opportunity to strike back."

The four councilors looked at each other, and after a couple of seconds, Valern said, "For now we can't help you as the reapers are pressing our borders as well. But to show that the council is caring about the humans, we're promoting you, Captain Olivia Shepard, to the spectres. Please step forward."

"It is the decision of the Council that you'll be granted all the powers and privileges of the Special Tactics and Reconnaissance branch of the Citadel."

"I'm honored, Councilor." Olivia said while bowing.

"We assign you with Spectre Commander John Shepard to find a way to stop the reapers in any way."

"Understood." The both Shepards said, and three of the four council members left, Udina stayed behind.

"Please meet me in my office." He said, and left.

Olivia turned to Liara and John. "That went well." Liara said.

"What is a ceremony without an actual ceremony?" Olivia said cynically, referring to her brother's much better spectre induction.

"Don't worry. What matters is the power that comes with this." John commented as they left the podium.

"Do we have anything planned for today?" Olivia asked John.

"Other than saving the world? Not really, sis. We need to restock the Normandy. After that, we can go wherever Hackett wants us."

"So much for being a spectre means free roaming…" Olivia said as the elevator's doors closed.

**6th March, 2186 - SSV Normandy SR2, Docked to the Citadel**

Olivia woke up again, in her comfy bed in the captain's cabin. She didn't really remember her evening, and her head is still aching. He looked to her side, and saw several empty beer bottle, most lying on their sides, only two or three still standing.

While getting up from the bed she moaned as her headache was getting worse and worse. She looked at the clock, to notice the time: 9:30. She wanted to go back to the bed to sleep a little more, but she had work to do. She walked to her desk and her terminal to check her messages.

After reading her messages, she entered the shower. She walked under the hot water, and planned to stay there for only a couple of minutes, or half an hour. While standing there, she tried to recap what happened. Three days ago, the reapers attacked. They were ambushed on Mars.

But she was promoted to a spectre, _at least that's a good thing_ she thought. A lot of things happened in the last week that she forgot a lot of things, including washing her hair. It was easy for her brother to forget about these little things, especially when he doesn't have hair, but she would go crazy in mere days if her daily routine would break.

She lost track of time. She was pushed back to reality when she heard someone knocking on the cabin's door. She opened her omni-tool, and said into it, "I'll be there in a minute." She turned off the water, dried her body, dressed up, and dried her hair a bit.

She opened the door, and saw John standing there. "Good morning." Olivia greeted him.

"Good morning. Are you okay? You look… terrible." John said.

"Yeah, yeah, just laugh. My head is aching like hell." Olivia said, and put her hand to her forehead.

"Looks like you had your ceremony after all?" John asked, when he leaned to see inside, and noticed the beer bottles. "Where did you get those?" He asked.

"I, uh… I don't know." She answered, as she stepped to the side, letting her brother in. "But why are you here? We're only leaving tomorrow; you should be on the Citadel, enjoying your shore leave."

"I could ask the same question."

"I am the captain. I have work to do, as you can see." She said, and pointed at her terminal.

"I see, well, I could show you some tips on how to read these ship updates faster." John said as he moved closer to the terminal, and deleted the messages in one tap on the screen.

"No, wait, I haven't read those." Olivia tried to argue, but her headache was getting worse again.

"I never read them. It's just a waste of time." John said. "Now, I'd like to introduce you to my team who helped with me with the Collectors. We may need them with the reapers." He said. They sat down and he projected the first dossier, written by the Alliance after John was detained.

. . .

Name: Kasumi Goto

Proficiency: Stealth

Ms. Goto is one of the best thief in the galaxy, thus not the most famous one. She was a key personnel when Commander Shepard infiltrated the Collector homeworld, as she was the one who opened the doors after she crawled herself through the vents.

Current whereabouts: Unknown.

. . .

Name: Zaeed Massani

Proficiency: Full-on assault

Zaeed Massani was the co-founder of the Blue Suns, but got kicked out after Vido Santiago seized control of the group. He played an important role in the Collector homeworld. He died protecting Commander John Shepard, allowing him and Tech Specialist Tali'Zorah to escape.

Current whereabouts: Deceased

. . .

Name: Miranda Lawson

Proficiency: Biotics

Ms. Lawson was the lead operative in Cerberus until she left the group after the Normandy escaped through the Omega-4 Relay. She was also the head of the cell what resurrected Commander John Shepard.

Current whereabouts: Citadel

. . .

Name: Jacob Taylor

Proficiency: Biotics

Mr. Taylor was a Cerberus operative, and was one of Commander John Shepard's team. He was in charge of getting the team back to the ship in the Collector Homeworld, but they died when they ran into a collector swarm.

Current whereabouts: Deceased

. . .

Name: Urdnot Grunt

Proficiency: Melee combat

The tank-bred krogan Urdnot Grunt was part of Commander John Shepard's team. He is the creature of Warlord Okeer, who died to save his "legacy". After his rite of passage, he is a full member of clan Urdnot.

Current whereabouts: Tuchanka

. . .

Name: Jennifer [Surname not known]

Proficiency: biotics

Jennifer, Jacqueline Nought, Jack, or more commonly known as Subject Zero, is the product of Cerberus's early attempts at creating a biotic person. Unfortunately, thanks to the torture at the camp, her personality is unstable.

Current whereabouts: Grissom Academy

. . .

Name: Legion (given name)

Proficiency: Tech

Legion was a geth platform who was aboard the ship. It lost its platform in the Collector base, but provided a lot of valuable information about the geth consensus.

Current whereabouts: Platform is left on the destroyed Collector Homeworld

. . .

Name: Professor Mordin Solus

Proficiency: Tech

Mordin Solus performed recon in STG. After rescued by Commander Shepard from Omega, he worked on the Normandy. He played an important role as he found a way to avoid Collector swarms.

Current whereabouts: Sur'Kesh

. . .

Name: Samara

Proficiency: Biotics

Samara is an asari justicar, who helped Commander John Shepard fight the Collectors. She played an important role as he helped a small team go through a large Seeker Swarm in the Collector Base.

Current whereabouts: Unkown (asari space)

. . .

Name: Thane Krios

Proficiency: Assassination

Thane is a drell, who suffers a disease which slowly kills him. He was one of the best assassin in the galaxy, if not the best. C-Sec tried to capture him, but never succeeded.

Current whereabouts: Citadel

. . .

_A/N: Thanks for reading!_

_If you have a minute, please follow, favorite and write a review! In the next episode, the Normandy travels to the quarian homeworld to end their fight once and for all._


	7. Episode 7: The Reaper of Rannoch

**Episode 7: The Reaper of Rannoch (6th March, 2186 - 8th March, 2186)**

* * *

**6th March, 2186 - Presidium Commons, Citadel**

Olivia has been walking around the Presidium and thinking. It has only been three days, but she already felt exhausted. She remembered her discussion with John last day when he said that he rarely thinks about their mother, their family. Olivia was different. There wasn't a day when she didn't think about her mother. Every day when she was on Tiptree, every day when she was on the dreadnought she thought about what's happening with her family.

She didn't hear about her mother in weeks. She wanted to speak with Admiral Hackett about her mother, whether she's alive, or what, but she thought it would be inappropriate at this time. After all, there's a war with the reapers, millions are dying every minute.

She looked around and noticed Tali standing near a storefront, looking at something. Olivia stood up, and walked closer to her. "Hello. What are you doing?"

"Hello, Olivia. I, uh, just looking around." Tali said.

"Planning on buying something?" Olivia asked.

"Maybe… I don't know." The quarian girl answered. "I've been looking for some fabric for my suit, but… I don't like these." Tali said, and stopped. After a couple of seconds, she continued. "Anyway, I got a message from the Admiralty Board, and they request your help against the geth."

_Here we go again… _She thought. "They're waging war against the geth while the reapers are here?"

"Looks like the Admiralty Board try to reclaim Rannoch." Tali said. "We have ships. If you help us, we'll help with the reapers however we can."

Olivia didn't have to think about it twice. They needed the help, so she accepted the request. "Alright, we'll help. Tell them to contact Admiral Hackett."

"Thank you, Olivia."

**7th March, 2186 - SSV Normandy SR2, docked to the Citadel**

"Captain, incoming message marked urgent; patching it through to the primary QEC channel." Traynor said, while turning toward to Olivia, who was on the galaxy map's ramp, casually looking at different planets and stars.

She turned around, and walked down the ramp. "Who's from?"

"Admiral Shala'Raan vas Tonbay, ma'am."

"Thank you, Traynor. Please tell Tali to meet me in the communications room."

"Will do, Captain."

Olivia was expecting a call from the quarians. Hackett allowed the Normandy to help the quarians; he understood the importance of the quarians. The galaxy couldn't fight two wars at the same time: the geth had to be silenced.

Olivia walked past the security check, through the war room, and arrived into the communications room. The blue hologram was already waiting for her. "Captain? Do you read me?" Shala'Raan asked.

"Barely… EDI, can you clear this up?" Olivia asked.

"Will do my best." It answered.

"I understand you want to help us with the geth?" Raan asked.

"Yes. If you help us reclaim our homeworld, we may be able to give you some of our ships. But we need to talk in person. How fast can you be in the Far Rim?"

"As soon as possible, Admiral."

"Thank you, Captain." Raan said, and the holo blinked until it turned off.

Olivia walked back to the war room to plan out the attack on Rannoch, but she couldn't do much without maps. Tali tried to help her, but they needed the help of the Admiralty.

**7th March, 2186 - SSV Normandy SR2, Far Rim**

Olivia, John and Tali was standing near the airlock as they were waiting for the Admirals to board the ship. The first one to come through was Shala'Raan, who hugged Tali. The next one was Han'Gerrel, who after introducing himself to Olivia, shook hands with John.

The third one was Daro'Xen, who seemed annoyed. The last one was Zaal'Koris who was still upset because of Commander Shepard's action on the flotilla a year ago.

They walked into the conference room, and the glass door closed behind them. "So, what's the plan, admirals?" John asked. Olivia furrowed her eyebrows annoyingly.

The admirals glanced, and Han'Gerrel spoke up. "When we engaged the geth, they seemed more… complex." He said.

"The geth seems like developed more advanced more complex way of thinking." Shala'Raan continued as she showed a visualization of a geth's "mind." "But they're still networked. We found a short-range transmitter on one of their dreadnoughts, which if destroyed, would make them a lot less… complex."

"Understood. Where is this ship?" Olivia asked.

"It's orbiting Rannoch, Captain." Gerrel said. "We need to take it down to keep on fighting."

"Consider it done, Admirals." Olivia said. "You can stay on the ship, to coordinate the attack." Olivia suggested.

. . .

John, Olivia and Tali went to shut down the geth server. In the core room, they found a get VI, transmitting the signal. Olivia wanted to shoot it, but John stopped her, as the geth said that he's a copy of Legion, and is friendly.

They released it, but when another wave of enemies appeared, the ship started shaking as the quarians started shooting at the geth dreadnought. Olivia tried to contact the Normandy, but the jamming stopped her from doing so. The geth VI helped rescue them, and soon they were picked up by the Normandy.

Traynor looked up from her console when she saw Olivia, throwing her helmet through the CIC. She was quickly followed by John and Tali. Olivia went past her, and into the war room. "Tali and Shepard was still on board! I should charge you with treason!" Raan said to Gerrel. "They could've died there!"

"But they didn't." The other admiral countered and turned to Olivia. "The mission parameters changed. You're military, Shepard, you know how this-" Gerrel said, but was interrupted by a large punch into his stomach.

"You jeopardized the entire mission for what?" Olivia asked.

"I was in my authority when-"

"I don't care, Admiral. Get the hell off my ship." Olivia said. Gerrel walked past her angrily. Olivia turned to Raan and informed her about the get VI. "We've found something you may be interested in." She said.

"What did you find?" Xen asked.

Olivia nodded to the door and a geth walked in. "Shepard-Captain. How we may be of service?" It asked.

"What the hell?" Raan asked as she slowly backed away from the geth.

"Take it easy. It wants to help you." Olivia said.

"It's fascinating. Any other platform wouldn't be able to speak. Will there be a time to study it?" Xen asked, looked up and down on the geth.

"Of course. But I would like to know what it needs to tell us." Olivia said, and the geth walked closer to the center of the room.

"What can you tell us about the geth? How will they react without Reaper guidance?" Raan asked.

"The geth is still under Reaper guidance." The geth started. "They set up a long range transmitter on Rannoch."

"Where is it?" Olivia asked.

"Here." The geth said, and a holo of Rannoch appeared. "The base is surrounded by jamming towers, so they would detect any ship entering. And there is a fighter squadron server not far from there. Turning that off would have a positive outcome for Creator ships."

"Noted. Garrus, Ashley and I will shut down the server while John, Tali and Liara destroys the jamming towers."

"A team of three would be ineffective. You need to enter the server alone." The geth said.

"Enter?"

"You will be uploaded as raw data, destroying the server from within."

"Is it safe?"

The geth loaded the information for a second, then tilted its head. "Yes."

"Then only Ashley will come. Garrus can go with John."

"That's a good plan, Captain." Raan said. Olivia walked back to the CIC to rest a bit before the next mission.

. . .

Joker always had a feed from the ground teams. He listened to it from time to time, when he was bored of not doing anything on the bridge. He tapped on Olivia's name.

_"We're nearing the meeting point." _Olivia's voice came through the line.

_"Acknowledged." _The geth VI said.

_"Do you really want to get into it, skipper?"_

_"Do you want to do it?"_

_"If I have a choice then no."_

_"Thought so." _Olivia said and Joker heard someone stepping on metal.

_"Please don't move while the program scans you. Scan complete. Beginning operation."_

_"It's creepy alone here." _He heard Ashley's voice just before he stopped the streaming.

. . .

John and Olivia were back from their missions, and they were in the lounge, relaxing. Tomorrow, they will attack the main Reaper base. "It was really… I don't know… disturbing inside that server." Olivia commented as she sipped from her glass. "Did you take down the jamming towers easily?" Olivia asked.

"Yeah, although we were a bit disorganized." John said.

"How so?"

"The geth attacked from three sides. One of us had to shut down the tower while the other protected them." John said, and took a deep breath and exhaled. "It was exhausting."

Olivia stood up. "I should go." She said, and drank her drink. "Tomorrow's a big day." She said and she left to her quarters.

**8th March, 2186 - SSV Normandy SR2, on orbit around Rannoch**

"Are you ready?" Olivia asked. She was dressed in her armor. Tali, John, Ashley, Liara and Garrus stood before her. "John, you'll lead the second team. You'll infiltrate the base, and turn off the alarm system. Take Tali and Garrus with you." She said, and turned to the rest of the team. "You two will come with me. We'll try a frontal assault and enter once John turns off the alarm system. The passage we're going on should take us straight to the center, where the main server is."

"How will we take down the server?" Ashley asked.

"Admiral Xen gave us a targeting laser synced to the Normandy. I just mark something and the Normandy makes a very precise shot."

"We can only use it on the server?" Liara asked.

"Yes." Xen stepped in. "The geth would adapt to the sync laser with their jamming towers, thus render it completely useless."

"Understood, Admiral." Olivia said, as they walked out from the war room.

**8th March, 2186 - Reaper server, Rannoch**

The infiltration team successfully achieved their goal, and Olivia and her squad was near the server. She pointed the laser gun at the oval hole in the ground. After a few seconds, the Normandy flew by, and fired a shot right where she wanted.

Olivia lost her balance after the explosion. When she stood up, she saw a Reaper crawling out from the hole she just blew up. She and her squad started running where the geth VI was, away from the Reaper.

They boarded a small geth ship, and they started flying away from the Reaper, close to the ground. The quarian flotilla shot at the Reaper, which fell to the ground. The geth ship slowed down and came to a stop. "We can still escape, Shepard-Captain."

"No. It ends here." Olivia said into her communicator.

"_What are you doing, sis?"_ John asked through the communicator, almost sounded angry.

"We came here for nothing if we leave this abomination here." Olivia said as she jumped off of the geth flyer. She changed the channel to her squad's. "Go, and get somewhere safe. Only come back if the Reaper is dead." She said, and pointed the laser gun at the Reaper. "I want the whole damned fleet synchronized to the laser gun!"

"_Understood, ma'am_." Joker said, and relayed the information. Within seconds, a fleet of weapons was in the hand of Olivia. The Reaper slowly stood up, and growled angrily. Olivia heard the sound of the geth ship flying away.

The Reaper started shooting its red laser at Olivia. She managed to dodge all of them. When the laser gun cooled down, she pointed it at the Reaper's red eye. After a couple of seconds, missiles from the fleet hit it, but that wasn't enough. The Reaper walked closer, allowing itself more precise shooting at the little human.

Olivia pointed the laser gun at the Reaper's eye again, but she had to cancel it, as it started shooting the red laser again. Olivia dodged the laser, and tried the laser gun again. This time, the Reaper got hit with another wave of deadly missiles. But still, that wasn't enough. _Just one more… _Olivia thought as the laser gun started cooling down.

The Reaper walked closer, this time, completely looking at Olivia. The machine massed in front of the human woman. It growled as its laser heated up. More and more red sparks were around its eyes. Olivia managed to point at its eye with the laser gun.

Hundreds of thousands of missiles arrived from orbit. The first wave hit the Reaper's outer shell, which distracted it. The second wave hit its eye. The Reaper collapsed to the ground with red sparks all around the valley.

Olivia coughed from the dust. "This is Shepard. The Reaper is dead." She said as she fell to her knees from exhaustion.

. . .

Traynor and Adams were in the Normandy's bridge, listening to the radio feed. "_We can still escape, Shepard-Captain." _They heard a robot speaking.

"That's the geth helping a human?" Adams asked. "I thought I never see the day."

"Me too…" Traynor added.

"Sshh." Joker silenced them.

_"No. it ends here." _They heard Olivia.

"What? She wants to fight that Reaper? They wouldn't make it!" Traynor expressed her concern.

John joined in through his communicator. _"What are you doing, sis?"_

_"We came here for nothing if we leave this abomination here. Go, and get somewhere safe. Only come back if the Reaper is dead"_

"She won't survive it alone! Joker, can't you speak her?" Adams asked, as he held Joker's chair tighter and tighter.

"I've been known Olivia since a long time ago. She'll make it." He said, but he was just as nervous as his crewmates.

_"I want the whole damned fleet synchronized to the laser gun!" _Olivia spoke into her communicator.

"Understood, ma'am." Joker answered, and relayed the message to all quarian ship. "This is Jeffrey Moreau of the SSV Normandy. Sync up your main cannons to the laser gun's frequency, I repeat, sync your main cannons to the given frequency." He said. He received the confirmation from all ships.

Shortly after the confirmations from other ships, the contact with Olivia broke. "Is she alive?" Traynor asked.

Joker waited a few seconds to answer. "I don't know…"

They sat in complete silence. They waited for anything when Olivia's voice came through all channels. "Th-this is Shepard." She was heard, and she coughed. "The Reaper is dead."

. . .

John arrived first to the canyon Olivia fought with the Reaper. He landed with a shuttle, and ran to her sister. "Are you okay?" He asked as he helped her stand up.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." She answered. She looked a little pale.

Tali, Ashley and the geth VI joined the Shepards. "Shepard-Captain. You have to make a choice."

"What choice?" Olivia asked the geth.

"The geth are no longer directly being affected by the Old Machines. We are free." The geth Vi said.

"Shepard, you did it. The geth are completely vulnerable." Han'Gerrel said. "All ship, prepare to fire."

"Shepard-Captain, the geth only acted in defense. This platform still carries remains of Old Machine upgrade. We could upload it to all platforms, give them conscience. We would be alive, and we could help you."

Tali shouted at Olivia. "Uploading the code would destroy us! Shepard, you can't choose them over my people."

"Why not? We can provide ships, platforms, building material." The geth VI turned to Olivia. "Do we deserve death?" It asked.

The world slowly fell apart around Olivia. She found herself in an imagined room, filled with light, with a bunch of geth on the right hand side, and the quarian admiralty on the left hand side. The geth beeped something to each other while holding weapons. She turned her head to the quarians, who discussed plans of resettling on their homeworld as they looked at various blueprints.

It was a choice between the geth and the quarians.

The quarians were alive with rich history. They were living beings. They had a tremendous amount of ship. The quarians could grow their own food and help the turians. The geth could be easily repaired. They were attacked innocently by their creators. They don't require food.

The quarians are organics. The geth are synthetics.

"The geth only acted hostile in self-defense." The geth VI's voice snapped Olivia back to reality. She made her choice.

. . .

_A/N: Thanks for reading! I tried my best at writing a cliffhanger. You have to decide how it turned out._

_If you have a moment to spare, please write a review, favorite and follow the story! In the next episode, Olivia makes her choice with the geth situation, and the Normandy travels to the moon of Palaven to help the turians with their fight. And while there, they help the quarian team sent there._


	8. Episode 8: In Between Actions

**Episode 8: In Between Actions (8th March - 16th March)**

* * *

**8th March, 2186 - Reaper base, Rannoch**

"I'm sorry, but I can't let the get destroy the quarians." Olivia said.

The geth VI turned around. "We knew trusting organics was a bad idea. Uploading the code." It said, and grabbed Olivia by her neck. She tried to escape, but the geth didn't let her go. Air slowly went out of her lungs and her head as she was only moments before she would die. Suddenly, Tali pulled out a knife from her boots, and hit the geth VI's data core right in the center.

The geth instantly lowered its arm, and loosened the grip, letting Olivia escape. The geth fell to its knees, as Olivia pointed her pistol at it.

"This is for grabbing me!" She shouted as she shot one electric charge into the geth's flashlight head. "This is for Eden Prime!" She shouted once again, as she shot another round into the geth's head. She kept shooting until her pistol ran out of thermal clips, and overheated. The geth was now lifeless.

Olivia just stood there, and dropped her pistol while taking a deep breath. "It's… over." Olivia heard Tali saying. She was grateful for Olivia for giving her people back their homeworld.

Suddenly, the Reaper's eye turned, and it started speaking. John grabbed the laser gun, and pointed it at the Reaper's eye. Olivia raised her hand, halting her brother.

"Humans." The Reaper growled. "Shepard."

"You know who we are?" Olivia asked.

"Harbinger speaks of you. You fight, but you will fail. The commander may have killed Sovereign, but look how many of we are left. The cycle must be continued."

"Tell your friends we're coming for them!" John said, and targeted the Reaper's eye with the laser, and the fleet shot at it. "Never mind, we'll tell them ourselves."

Shala'Raan arrived with a shuttle not long after the Reaper exploded in the blast. "I'm not sure who to thank. We'll begin repairing our fleet immediately, and we can also offer technical experts to assist with the data you've found on Mars."

Both Shepards saluted her. "Thank you, Admiral." Olivia said.

"Excuse me, but I need to assist the fleet from the surface." Raan said, and she left.

"I'll give you two some privacy." Olivia said, and she left as well.

Tali walked to the cliff, and sat down to the ground, John quickly followed her. "So, you'll stay with your people?" John asked.

"Always straight to the point…" Tali said just loud enough so he can hear it. "No, I'm not staying."

"Why?"

"I lived my life helping you. After we destroyed the reapers, I might come back." She said and they stood up. "But until then…" She reached for her mask, and removed it. "I'm all yours." She said, and they kissed each other.

Olivia smiled, and slowly walked back to the shuttle with her visor in her hand.

**8th March, 2186 - CIC of the SSV Normandy SR2**

Olivia, followed by John and Tali, walked in to the bridge through the airlock. Just as the airlock's doors opened, the crew was standing there, celebrating their first real victory against the reapers. The shore party was still wearing their armors. Olivia was tired, but happy, as she could solve a three hundred years old conflict, too.

"We've earned some rest." Olivia said. "Joker! Set a course to the Citadel. I'll change into my clothes and talk with Hackett."

Joker laughed. "Aye, aye, Captain."

Olivia walked past the crew of the CIC, and went into the elevator and up to her cabin.

**8th March, 2186 - Captain's Cabin of the SSV Normandy SR2**

Olivia put her armor into her locker in her cabin. She sat down to her bed, but she heard knocking on her door. She stood up, sighed, and went ahead to open it. John was standing there, alone. She expected him to celebrate with the crew. "What are you doing here?" John asked.

"I could ask the same." Olivia answered. When John didn't answer, she asked. "Hm?"

"May I go in?" He asked. Olivia stepped out of the way. They sat down to the couch in the back of the cabin. "What you did down there… I'm not sure I could've done the same."

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"Standing there, face-to-face with a Reaper… I don't know."

"For a second I thought I would die when it looked over me." Olivia said. "My whole life flashed before my eyes."

"And what did you see?" John asked.

"Nothing, really. I mean, mother was always away on some missions, so I don't have a lot of memory of her." She said. "Then there was the N7 training… And that's it."

"That's it?" John asked. "Sis, you were the captain of a dreadnought! You are the second human spectre, commanding the most advanced vessel in the Citadel fleet!" He listed the things why she should remember to a lot of things.

"Yeah, but I still feel something is missing."

"You know, I felt something that before I met Tali."

"Ah, don't give me dating advice. We have more important things to do."

"But you should have some free time, during the shore leaves. You have an apartment on the Citadel, but everytime we're docked to the Citadel; you're here on the ship."

"But…"

"I felt the same before I… died." John said. "Then I had to learn that I can have free time while saving the galaxy. You should, too. Now…" He said while standing up, and extending his arm to her sister. "Come down, and have a drink with us."

Olivia grabbed his hand and stood up. They walked to the door when John stopped. "EDI, don't let her work in the next week, okay? We'll be on shore leave on the Citadel."

"Acknowledged, Commander." EDI said, and turned off the lights as they stepped into the antechamber.

**8th March, 2186 - The communications room of the SSV Normandy SR2**

"Captain… I saw your reports. Is that true that the geth is no longer a problem?" Hackett asked through the quantum entanglement communicator.

"Yes, Admiral, and the quarians are giving us resources to help us with the data found on Mars."

"Thank you, Captain. Keep reporting to me, Hackett out." He said, and the person in front of Olivia dematerialized. She turned around, and went to the Crew Deck.

**9th March, 2186 - SSV Normandy SR2, docked to the Citadel**

Olivia woke up in the Captain's cabin of the Normandy. She slowly opened her eyes, and felt that headache what she felt after her own ceremony of being chosen as a spectre. She immediately regretted opening her eyes as the light coming from the star the Citadel orbited, the Widow, was too bright for her.

"EDI? What's the time?" She asked, moaning a little when she got up, and leaned to the wall.

"It's nine fifty, Olivia. Should I've woken you up?" She asked through the intercom.

"I, uh, no. Thanks." She answered. She dressed up into her casual clothes, and sat down in front of her personal terminal, and checked the ship's status messages. Just as she opened the first of several, John stepped in through the cabin's door. "What; is there a bug in my computer that tells you when do I work?" She asked.

"No, I just happen to be in the right place at the right moment." He answered, and with a swift movement, he turned off her computers. "Do you remember what did you told me last night?"

"Are you kidding? I don't remember anything." He said.

"Is it the war, or you always drank too much alcohol?"

"I'm a spectre; I do what I want." Olivia answered. "But it isn't easy, whatever you tell me." She quickly added. "Where are we?"

"Docked to the Citadel. I heard you have an apartment in the Presidium?"

"Yeah."

"Have some rest. I might visit you, but Tali said she had ideas for me." John said, and left the elevator on the crew deck. Olivia stayed in the elevator for another minute, and pushed the button to the CIC.

**16th March, 2186 - SSV Normandy SR2, on orbit around Palaven, Trebia, Apien Criest**

"ETA to the ground is fifteen minutes." Joker announced in the comm. system.

"So, Primarch, what can you tell us about the surface?" Olivia asked as they walked in to the War Room, and the projection of Palaven showed up.

"Almost like any other planet." He said. "The only difference is the number of Reapers per square meters is a little lower than on Earth."

"Very funny." John walked in to help with the preparations.

"A ground team of three will be sufficient. We have forces from the quarians to help us."

"Who's the leader of the quarians?"

"Squad Leader Kal'Reegar." The Primarch said.

"Reegar?" John asked.

"Do you know him?" Olivia asked back.

"We met on Haestrom. He protected Tali from getting swarmed by the geth. I think she would want to come with us."

"Good idea." Olivia said. "She knows quarian protocols. Tell her to gear up and meet us by the Hammerhead."

. . .

_AN: And another (small) chapter done. I'll try to update this frequently, but I didn't have any time to write due to school and such. I hope I'll have more time after the start of June._

_Thanks for reading! If you have a moment, please write a review, and favorite & follow the story! In the next episode, a new crewmember is added to the Normandy from the quarian forces assisting the fight against the Reapers on Palaven._


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